The meeting between US President Barack Obama and President Mahmoud Abbas has been the highlight of the week, especially after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Washington 10 days earlier at odds with Obama, at least on one subject.
During the Netanyahu-Obama meeting on May 18, the US President made it clear its administration wanted a complete halt to settlement activities in the West Bank and Jerusalem, a condition Netanyahu rejected, even as he shook hands with Obama.
This gave an extra push to Palestinians during their meeting with Obama on May 28. President Abbas, along with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, met at the White House with the US leader, who told them he strongly believed in the two state solution. While Obama reiterated his stance on Israeli settlements and Israel's commitment to past agreements, he also pushed the Palestinians to do their part. He said they must improve their security and "halt the incitement of anti-Israeli sentiments" in schools, mosques and public arenas. "All those things are impediments to peace," he said.
In general, Obama, who is to deliver a speech on June 4 in Cairo addressed to the Muslim world, is going full steam ahead with his peace efforts – a radical change from his predecessor, George W. Bush.
"We can't continue with the drift, with the increased fear and resentment on both sides, the sense of hopelessness around the situation that we've seen for many years now," the President said. "We need to get this thing back on track."
Israel, however, was not as keen to make any changes. On the day of the Obama-Abbas meeting, Israeli spokesperson Mark Regev responded to the issue of settlement construction by saying that some construction would go on.
"Normal life in those communities must be allowed to continue," he said, adding that the fate of the settlements would be determined in future negotiations.
Apparently taking their cue from the US President, other world leaders have followed in the same footsteps. On May 29, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier demanded that Israel put an end to all settlement building in the Palestinian territories as well.
It is "not acceptable" to found new settlements or expand existing ones in east Jerusalem or the West Bank," Steinmeier said in a joint interview with the German Press Agency DPA and German daily Sueddeutsche.
On May 27, in a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Gheith, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated her administration's stance, saying the president "wants total freeze on settlements, including natural growth. He wants to see a stop to settlements - not some settlements, not outposts, not 'natural growth' exceptions," in unusually strong terms.
Even some Palestinians had a surprisingly simple solution to the settler issue. On May 26, head negotiator and former premier, Ahmad Qurei' said in an interview with Haaretz that the Palestinians would not accept the annexation of major settlement blocs to Israel in a final settlement. However, if they wish, he continued, settlers living in these settlements would not have to leave. They could remain in their homes, but would have to live under Palestinian law and rule.
This will probably not sit well with Israelis. Neither does it sit well with Hamas, who said Qurei's statements were merely a consolidation of Israel's hold on Palestinian land. As for Netanyahu, he is adamant that settlements remain where they are and that the only move he is willing to make towards the Palestinians is economic-based. On May 28, the Israeli premier said he plans to facilitate the establishment of 100 economic projects for Palestinians in the West Bank including a major industrial zone. This falls within his strategy of offering economic enticements as opposed to political solutions to the conflict.
At the political level, Israeli lawmakers are moving quickly to consolidate anti-Palestinian laws within Israel's legal system. On May 29, a group of Jordanian lawmakers urged their government to sever diplomatic ties with Israel in protest against a debate in the Israeli parliament over considering Jordan an "alternative homeland" for the Palestinians. The "two states for two peoples on the two banks of the River Jordan" proposal was introduced by MK Aryeh Eldad from the far-right National Union-National Religious Party.
“The voting on the proposal proves that ruling politicians in Israel do not believe in peace and have no respect for peace treaties and UN resolutions,” one Jordanian parliamentarian said.
Furthermore, on May 27, the preliminary reading of a draft bill was passed in Israel's parliament with 47 MKs voting in favor and 34 against. The bill, entitled the Loyalty Law, is of two parts. The first calls for imprisoning anyone who calls for the end of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. The second part seeks to criminalize any commemoration of Al Nakba, punishable with a jail sentence of up to three years. The rationale is that mourning the independence of Israel is tantamount to incitement against the state.
In other news, a UN team of independent experts mandated to probe alleged war crimes in Gaza will arrive this week to begin their investigation.
Heading the delegation is prosecutor Richard Goldstone, who has been met with much resistance so far from Israel over the investigation. Israel said on May 29 that it would not cooperate with the investigation team, calling its mandate "intrinsically flawed and defective."
Meanwhile, the rift between Hamas and Fateh continues, with more ramifications becoming apparent on the ground. On May 24, a Hamas court sentenced three Fateh members to death in a Gaza court on charges of involvement in the abduction and murder of a Hamas-affiliated journalist in 2007. Fateh warned the Hamas de facto authority in Gaza that any such move would only further deepen the split between the two rival factions and push them farther way from their goal of national conciliation.
On May 28 Israeli forces entered the Hebron-area village of Dura and killed Izzedin Qassam Brigades commander Majed Dudeen, 45. Dudeen has been long wanted by Israeli authorities for his alleged involvement in several bombings and Israeli deaths.
Finally, Israel further tightened its grip on Jerusalem, closing down the Palestinian Festival of Literature on May 23 and again on May 28, both initially held in the Hakawati Theater in east Jerusalem. The first time the participants were forced to move to the French Cultural Center to continue the events while the second time Israeli police closed down the theater, participants moved to the British Consulate close by. Israel, which claims Jerusalem as its unified capital, deems any activity remotely pro-Palestinian as the PA's attempt to impose its authority over the city.
"All cultural events which take place in areas of contention have political undertones," British writer Jeremy Harding said after police blasted the theater on May 28. "Talking about what literature is and what it means in a fraught political situation is the most honest thing we can do. They didn't like that."
UN Resolution 1325
Date posted: February 03, 2021
By MIFTAH
Kerry talks peace while Israel bars UNESCO mission [May 19 - May 25]
Date posted: May 25, 2013
By MIFTAH
President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both met with US Secretary of State John Kerry this week in the latter’s fourth visit to the region since he assumed office.
After meeting with the two to ostensibly find ways to restart stalled negotiations between the two sides, Kerry urged on May 24 both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to take "hard decisions" to revive the peace process.
"We're getting toward a time now when hard decisions need to be made," he said at the end of his visit.
Kerry admitted a day before after meeting with the two leaders that there was skepticism and cynicism about his efforts to revive talks.
"I know this region well enough to know there is skepticism, in some quarters there is cynicism, and there are reasons for it. There have been bitter years of disappointment," he said. Still, he maintained: "It is our hope that by being methodical, careful, patient, but detailed and tenacious, that we can lay on a path ahead that can conceivably surprise people and certainly exhaust the possibilities for peace."
British foreign secretary William Hague was also in the region visiting with leaders on both sides and even visited the Bedouin community of Khan Al Ahmar between Jerusalem and Jericho, whose residents are under the threat of displacement.
On May 23, Hague was poignantly clear on where his country stands on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. "Israel has lost some of its support in Britain and in other European countries over time - this is something I've often pointed out to Israeli leaders -because of settlement activity, which we condemn,” he said.
"We strongly disagree with settlements on occupied land. Israel is a country we work with in many ways but we do disapprove of settlements,” he maintained, adding that: "We want to see both Israelis and Palestinians really commit themselves to the peace process while there is still a chance of a two-state solution."
In Khan al Ahmar, Hague listened to the residents’ grievances from Israeli efforts to push them out to make way for more settlement expansion. "We (in Britain) strongly condemn the building of settlements and recognise they are a severe threat to a two-state solution,” he told the people there.
On March 21, Israeli forces demolished two residential buildings in the Jabal al-Mukabbir in East Jerusalem. Earlier, they demolished two Palestinian homes in al-Tur, all under the pretext of unlicensed construction. Dozens of people have been left homeless from the demolitions.
A UNESCO fact-finding mission was supposed to arrive this week to look into Israeli measures in the Old City of Jerusalem and their impact on the archeological, cultural and heritage significance of the place, but was denied entry by Israel on May 20. Israel justified its decision by saying Palestinians were trying to politicize the visit.
"The Palestinians were not respecting the understandings,” an Israeli foreign ministry official said. “The visit was supposed to be professional, (but) they were taking measures that showed they were politicizing the event and not letting the delegation focus on professional sides of it," the official said.
UNESCO maintained that the mission was not cancelled, but postponed, the agency’s spokeswoman Sue Williams said.
The Palestinians said they expected Israel to pull something like this. “We weren't surprised by this decision because we believed that Israel's agreement to (allow the mission) was not convincing," minister of foreign affairs Riyad Al Malki said.
The Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was reopened on May 22 after a five day closure. Egyptian soldiers and policemen closed the crossing following the kidnapping of seven Egyptian soldiers in Sinai, only reopening it after the soldiers were freed. Over 2,400 Palestinians had been stranded on both sides of the crossing during the days of the closure.
Extremist Israelis extended their attacks this week all the way to the Negev desert. On May 19, residents of the Retamim Kibbutz attacked the nearby Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj and set fire to a tent, according to head of the local village council, Salman Ibin Hamid
"The setters of Retamim are acting like they are in the West Bank," Ibn Hamid said. "These people have the mentality of the occupying settler to attack every Arab."
Finally, on May 23, the US appointed Gen. John Allen as special envoy on security issues in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. According to a US official, Allen will deal with the U.S. position on Israeli security needs and the security arrangements that would accompany the establishment of a future Palestinian state.
Al Nakba commemorated amid increasing settler attacks [May 12 - May 18]
Date posted: May 18, 2013
By MIFTAH
This week Palestinians commemorated the 65th anniversary of the Nakba, the catastrophe of 1948 on May 15, with a variety of activities, demonstrations and events throughout the Palestinian territories and outside of its borders. Festivals were held in Ramallah and Nablus in addition to several protests and confrontations with Israeli occupation forces. In Jerusalem, clashes broke out between protesters and Israeli police and border guards when Palestinians commemorating Al Nakba, raising Palestinian flags and facing off with Jewish settlers and soldiers. Thirty people were wounded or arrested during the clashes in addition to six Israelis.
The Jerusalem clashes come at a time when settler break-ins to Al Aqsa have been on the rise amid increasing calls by extremist Jewish groups to make a presence at the compound. The break-ins have become a near daily event. Muslim worshippers and Palestinian youths have kept constant vigil at the mosque to stave off the break-ins which included settler groups who used children as a cover to enter the compound on the occasion of Shavuot.
Settlers in the West Bank have wreaked havoc this week as well. On May 17, three Palestinians were injured in clashes in Urif south of Nablus when dozens of settlers set fire to lands in three area-villages: Urif, Einabus, and Asira al-Qibliya. The settlers also attacked citizens and threw burning tires at people’s homes.
Jewish extremists attacked inside the Green Line as well. On May 14, extremists set fire to three cars and sprayed racist graffiti on a mosque south of Haifa, according to Israeli media reports.
"Price-tag" and "Eviatar," which is thought to refer to the name of a settler stabbed to death last week, were found on the mosque’s walls in addition to the Star of David. In Safed, even farther north, racist graffiti with the words "Arabs out" was found on walls in the city.
On May 13, Israeli settlers exhumed a number of graves and sprayed racist graffiti in the Sawiya village in Nablus. Ghassan Daghlas, head of the PA settlement activity file, said settlers from the Alia settlement were responsible for the damage.
On the same day settlers from Tel Hatimar begin building a religious school for children on Al Khader lands in the Bethlehem area.
The Israeli army meanwhile, uprooted over 1,200 olive tree saplings on May 16 and razed land Palestinian farmer in the northern West Bank, according to Daghlas. He said the army dug up over 40 dunums of farm land and demolished a water tank and stone walls in Ras Karker, near Nablus.
On May 17, three Palestinian laborers were wounded in Beit Ula northwest of Hebron after Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets and unleashed police dogs at them according to Issa al-Amla, coordinator for the popular struggle committee. He said Omar Al-Amla, 31, and Abdulkadir Al-Amla, 28, suffered multiple dog bites to the neck and hands. A third laborer, Jihad Saleem, was shot in the leg.
In Jerusalem on May 17, Israeli forces raided the home of Iyad al-Awar and insisted on taking his two children 6-year-old Qassam and 5-year-old Nasrallah for “interrogation”. While their father prevented the forces from arresting his boys, Israeli soldiers handed him a warrant ordering him to bring his children to the Russian Compound for questioning.
"We arrived to the Russian Compound and the troops wanted to take my kids for investigation; I refused and they beat me in the ear and the leg. My kids started crying and were so scared from the troops. They took my kids by force," al-Awar said.
Israeli Intelligence officers apparently questioned the children about their detained cousin Shadad, and asked if they had seen him throwing stones or Molotov cocktails at Israeli forces, Al Awar said.
On the same day however, Palestinians scored a tiny victory in the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis when they were able to tear a hole through part of the separation wall. Protesters marking the Nakba anniversary ripped a 4-meter hole in it, eyewitnesses said. Clashes ensued between the protesters and Israeli soldiers who fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Several injuries were reported.
Peace Now reported on May 16 that the Israeli government planned to grant retroactive approval to four West Bank settlement outposts it had previously pledged to at least partially demolish.
The Israeli state attorney's office said that settlers had purchased the private Palestinian land on which they built, thus paving the way for the government to give its blessing.
"In the response, the government declares its intention to legalize four outposts, in isolated areas," Peace Now said in a statement, adding that the strategy was an affront to US Secretary of State John Kerry's efforts to revive dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. "The intention to legalize outposts as new settlements is no less than a slap in the face of Secretary Kerry's new peace process," Peace Now said.
On May 14, Hamas and Fatah agreed in Cairo to form a national unity government within three months during which they would finalize and approve the Palestine National Council elections law. The two sides, represented by Fatah leader Azzam Al Ahmad and Hamas politburo member Mousa Abu Marzouq, came to the agreement under Egyptian sponsorship and said President Abbas would immediately begin talks on the new government formation. Once the government is formed, general elections can be held.
